1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing visual information to persons who are mobile, such as vehicle drivers and pedestrians.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drivers of automobiles and other road vehicles receive information from a number of sources, both internal and external to the vehicle. Internal sources include not only the vehicle""s instrumentation but also the vehicle""s radio and similar devices. Radio broadcasts can provide news, weather, road conditions, and similar information of use to the driver. Drivers can even receive information from the Internet using a suitably equipped device. External sources include road signs. Drivers are continually bombarded with information from road signs. Some road signs, such as signs informing the driver of the speed limit and hazards, are of critical importance to the driver. Others, such as signs informing the driver of distances to various points and signs informing the driver of rest stops and points of interest may be of lesser importance. Still others, such as advertising billboards and the like, may be of little or no interest to a particular driver.
It would be desirable to provide information to drivers by means of road signs that is consistent with an individual driver""s interest in or need for that type of information. The present invention addresses these problems and deficiencies and others in the manner described below.
From one perspective, the present invention relates to a method and system for providing dynamically selected information to one or more persons using an electronic sign, in which the sign displays information in response to one or more electronic tags carried by or otherwise associated with the person or persons. The information is displayed responsive to the tag or tags being brought into proximity with the sign.
In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, the person is a driver of an automobile or other road vehicle, and the sign is located along a road. Nevertheless, in other embodiments, the person can be walking or performing any other activity that brings him and his tag into proximity with the sign. The sign can be located anywhere, including on or near a road, a bicycle path, a city street, a sidewalk, in a store window, or any other suitable location. From another perspective, the present invention relates to a method and system for providing dynamically selected information to one or more drivers of road vehicles using an electronic road sign, in which the road sign displays information in response to the identity of one or more vehicles. The identity of a vehicle may be determined not only by electronically receiving information from a tag but also by, for example, optically identifying the vehicle, optically reading indicia on the vehicle, or by any other suitable means.
The term xe2x80x9cdynamicallyxe2x80x9d refers to the feature of the invention that the selection occurs in accordance with predetermined criteria that may cause certain information to be selected under certain circumstances and other information to be selected under other circumstances. The selected information may change while the vehicle is on the road. In accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention, an individual vehicle or an individual driver or other occupant of a vehicle can have a tag or similar device. The tag can be electronic (either active or passive) or can be optical or of other suitable nature that allows electronic communication of information between it and another device. Many such tags can be distributed among the many vehicles or drivers on the roads. Each tag includes an identifier, such as a number, that is unique to that vehicle or individual and different from the identifiers associated with the tags of all other such vehicles or individuals The identifier is associated with an account that has been set up for that individual or vehicle. The information is selected in response to the unique identity defined or established by the tag or the account, or the information may be selected in response to a collection of tags from different vehicles by averaging characteristics associated with the tags. Information is xe2x80x9cselectedxe2x80x9d in the sense that information of a broad range of types is available, though all types are not necessarily available in response to all identifiers at all times. For example, at any given time information describing the current weather conditions may be selected in response to one identifier, but information describing the results of sports events may be selected in response to a different identifier. The selected information is displayed on the sign as the vehicle or vehicles pass it.
It should be understood that the term xe2x80x9ctagxe2x80x9d is used solely for purposes of convenience in this patent specification and is not intended to convey any specific shape, package or commercially available type of electronic device. Some commercially available devices suitable for use as a tag indeed have a card-like or tag-like shape. Nevertheless, the device can have any suitable shape or size and can be co-packaged or otherwise combined with other electronic devices or with non-electronic items. For example, a conventional pager, cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), computer, wristwatch, or other electronic device or non-electronic item commonly carried on a person can be made to include a xe2x80x9ctagxe2x80x9d of the present invention.
In some embodiments of the invention, an individual such as the driver can preselect from among various information types. Then, information of only those types and not others will be selected and displayed when the driver passes the sign. For example, the driver can choose to view only information describing the current traffic and road conditions and can select not to view sports and weather information or other types of information. In such embodiments, a further feature of the invention can be included that allows one to select a priority for each information type. If information of two or more different priorities is available at the time the information selection is made, i.e., as the vehicle approaches the sign, information of highest priority can be selected and displayed before information of lower priority. Other criteria can be used to select from among information types in such embodiments. For example, information of a type that has not been previously selected and displayed within a predetermined amount of time can be selected and displayed before information of a type that has been more recently displayed. For example, if a driver wishes to receive sports and weather information, sports information can be selected if weather information has previously been displayed more recently than sports information.
In some embodiments of the invention, advertising or other information of general interest to more than one driver may be selected by collecting tag information from multiple persons or vehicles and dynamically selecting a message which appropriate for the collection of persons with whom the tags are associated, e.g., by selecting a message according to any of various averaging techniques for personal characteristics. Furthermore, in some embodiments, some of the information displayed is selected in response to tags, while other information is not responsive to tags.
In some embodiments of the invention, textual messages can be entered remotely and displayed on the sign. For example, a member of the driver""s family can enter a message on a home computer that is connected via a wide-area network such as the global super-network presently known as the Internet. When the driver""s vehicle approaches the sign, the family member""s message is displayed for the driver to view.
The features described above can be included individually or combined in any suitable way in various embodiments of the invention. For example, a driver can prioritize information types so that messages from family members are given a higher priority than weather and sports information.